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Effective December 1, 2012, Aero will commence flight operations between Calabar and Abuja.

The flight, which will be operated with a Boeing 737-500 series will depart Calabar for Abuja at 09:50am and arrive 11:00am with flight number AJ175, while Abuja to Calabar flight departs at 11:35am and arrives 12:45pm with flight number AJ176.

Announcing these services, Captain Akin George, Aero Managing Director said: “The decision was taken in the interest and comfort of the airline’s loyal customers to give them more choices and flexibility in planning their business and leisure trips and also reduce the stress of travelling during this festive season”.

Over the years, Aero has become the first airline of choice offering excellent value for money and making travels easier and convenient.

Aero has grown to be one of the most reliable and reputable carrier in Africa, operating over 50 flights a day and covering more than 15 domestic and regional destinations.

Aero is reacting to reports circulating in the media of an AeroContractors flight AJ133 which made an air return to Lagos after a generator failure on Tuesday. The APU was started and its generator used. The Captain however decided to return back to Lagos and have the Generator replaced. There were no issues with the engines and they operated normally.

Commenting on the issue, the managing director of the airline Captain Akinlawon George, said:

“The pilot decided to make an air return. This is a standard practice, and Aero Contractors will always adhere to best practices at all times. Passenger’s safety is our biggest priority and at no time was the safety of our passengers in jeopardy”.

The rumor concerning Aero Contractors of an ‘engine failure’ on AJ133 10 minutes after take-off on October 16th, along with double engine failures before take-off a week earlier are both incorrect and malicious misrepresentations.

The rumoured engine failure occurring 10 minutes after take off was actually a generator becoming unserviceable 10 minutes after take off. As is our practice, the Captain elected to return to Lagos to have the generator replaced. At no point was there an engine failure, there was no emergency, only company standard practice of returning the aircraft to its base of maintenance. Passengers were disembarked and re-boarded a waiting B737 for Abuja the same evening.

The so called double or single engine failure which occurred a week earlier was actually an aircraft on push back from the gate at MMA2 when an engineer observed a leakage of fluid coming from an engine. The crew was alerted, the push back was stopped, the start-up of the engine was aborted and the aircraft was pulled back to the gate. Again, passengers were disembarked and re-boarded a waiting B737 aircraft. Flight commenced 45 minutes later.

It is an Aero practice to jealously safe guard our unblemished 53 year old safety record, thus, it is company procedure to be extremely cautious when any matter of safety is at concerned

The objective of this exercise is to ensure that the airline and the aviation agencies are able to respond positively in the event of an emergency.

The Managing Director/CEO of the airline Capt Akin George said

“The exercise aims to assess the state of readiness of all the functional units within the airline and the aviation agencies to respond to emergency situation such as crashes, fires and emergency landings. From what we have observed, it is a success. We worked hand in hand with some independent auditors and the regulatory bodies to ensure that there was synergy within all the units.

“We will like to thank FAAN, NCAA, Fire Service,Nigerian Police and our staff for their support during the exercise”.

Its important our airports are equipped with GPS technology. Airplanes will be able to use this GPS technology for a more direct route. If this was in place it would have saved us a lot in Jos. Note that GPS will eventually be able to track planes’ locations far beyond the accuracy of radar and also during conditions of low clouds and poor visibility……..

There are conflicting signals coming from the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) regarding the takeover of Aero Contractors Airline.

Mustafa Chike-Obi, the AMCON managing director denied reports of a takeover saying “it is not true”.

He said, “Reports that AMCON has taken over Aero Contractors is not true. We took over the debts, not the company.

We have had the debts for almost a year now. Therefore, what AMCON has done does not have any impact on Aero Contractors’ normal business.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had announced on Friday that all loans from banks to Aero Contractors Airline should be halted because of its $200m loan.

The AMCON boss, Chike-Obi however did not reveal the terms and conditions of the said takeover.
AMCON, which was established through the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria Act, 2010 (AMCON Act), is mandated to efficiently resolve all problems associated with non-performing loans in Nigerian banks, financial institutions and corporations.

Aero Contractor’s Chief Financial Officer, Omoke Enyi, confirmed the debt takeover by the Assets Management Company saying, “We can confirm that Aero’s debt has been taken over by AMCON. Currently Aero is going through a restructuring exercise under AMCON, pending final approval by AMCON board which is expected very soon.”

So we take it that Aero will continue to fly their normal routes as usual.